Cover Girl

By now you’ve read all about Ann Kirsten Kennis suing Vampire Weekend (and others) about the unauthorized use of a nearly three decade old Polaroid of her sporting a preppy polo shirt and a beautiful look that makes the heart of any old fart like me beat uncontrollably. She’s the spitting image of somebody from anyone’s art class, speech class, band, drama, or French Club circa 1981-1987.

I swear to God, I made out with this chick on a church youth group sleepover.

The Fairfield Citizen has a well-researched story which is good enough to make someone like me with a knee-jerk reaction of “gold digger” suddenly put my foot in my mouth and admit “Poor girl (woman).”

First of all, she just went through chemo, so the endless parade of her younger self must put her in a constant reminder that she will never be able to revisit that fleeting beauty.



Secondly, that reminder came with a cash payment of-wait for it-one dollar. Now, Vampire Weekend ain’t the Rolling Stones and nobody is suggesting that Ann Kristen Kennis should have been paid enough to put her daughter through college, but you’d have to be retarded to sign the rights over to a photo with your image for one buck.

Never mind the whole document was signed a few years ago-decades after it was supposedly taken by photographer Tom Brody-and the model’s name was misspelled.

So yeah, dude sounds like a Creepy McCreepers and a dumb one at that. If he does end up losing the lawsuit, Kennis should be compensated nicely.

But Vampire Weekend? I’m not getting how the band is implicit in all of this. You grab a few photographers, look through their portfolios and pick a shot that best represents your vision. Is there another step that the band is responsible for?

I’m also wondering if I need to buy a physical copy of the album. Will it end up like many rock albums in history that met their demise from offensiveness (Yesterday and Today), improper licensing (Some Girls), or just plain stupidity (Virgin Killers)? Should I save a sealed copy for collection sake and wait for the value to rise if/when a judge decides to have the remaining copies removed from retail outlets.

Surely we would have seen some evidence of the records already in stores being removed as a result of a legal order or some talk of plans to change the artwork for future pressings, so maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to have an actual, physical copy of that fetching memory of a time long since past.